Wholesale Prices in Rise in March
Producer prices in the United States rose 0.5% in March, the biggest gain since June, the Labor Department reported April 11.
The rise in the producer-price index followed a 0.1% decline the prior month, Labor said. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey called for a 0.1% increase. Wholesale prices rose 1.4% in the past 12 months.
Core wholesale prices, which exclude volatile food and energy categories, climbed 0.6%, the biggest gain since March 2011, exceeding the projected 0.2% advance of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Prices dropped 0.2 % in February.
The year-to-year gain in producer prices was the biggest since August and followed a 0.9% increase in the 12 months to February. Excluding food and energy, the index also increased 1.4% year to year following a 1.1% year-to-year gain in February.
